Cross Bearer

Director - Adam Ahlbrandt (The Cemetery)
Starring - Isaac Williams (The Midnight Show), Natalie Jean (The Cemetery), and Victoria DePaul (Death Rattle)
Release Date - 2012
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The hammer of God"
Format - Streaming (Online screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      If you have not heard about this movie then I honestly feel sorry for you.  I have been watching trailers for this one for months with no way of actually watching the actual movie.  The director Adam Ahlbrandt has been seeking distribution for this film and his follow up flick, The Cemetery.  Sadly, that is making these two movies hard to get your hands on.  You can order Cross Bearer on a pre-release DVD, however, The Cemetery is completely unavailable on any format aside from the screener online.  After helping promote Ahlbrandt's next film, Hunters, he hooked me up with links to watch both films.  So thank you very much Adam for hooking me up with those.
     The film follows sexy dancer Heather (Jean) as she works the sleazy life as an exotic dancer.  She works for a real scumbag that pushes dope out the back of his titty bar.  He forces his dancers to deliver the drugs to various drug dealers along town.  He is sending Heather, her lover, along with two other girls and a guy off to make a drop to a real asshole of a drug dealer.  The drug dealer lives in an abandoned building and has recently been murdered by a religious fanatic that is punishing the wicked.  The group is unaware of this and enter the building only to be sealed in with no way out while the masked assailant hunts them down one by one and punishes them for their sins.  With no way of escaping the group scrambles from room to room until only one survives but how can they escape...with their life?
     There was a reason so many horror fans were praising this amazing film.  This movie had it all and done it the right way.   This movie has tons of blood, gore, and beautiful boobs.  Before I pick the movie apart I have one question for director Adam Ahlbrandt and that is where in the hell did you find these beautiful ladies?  An even better question is how in the hell did you convince them to get naked?  The ladies alone is enough reason to watch this amazing film.  As for the film itself, the movie has superior acting.  While looking through imdb.com and checking out each actor and actress' page I was kinda shocked that most of the cast has only been in a handful of films.  This, I'm sure, will change in the coming years because they all have talent that would contribute to any film.  The story is nothing special, however, it was delivered in a very unique way.  All horror fans have came in to contact with a slasher film at one time or another in their lives.  We all know that the typical slasher formula involves disguising the killer's identity until the plot twist nearing the end of the film unless the film is a sequel.  However, this film begins with the killer telling the viewers what he is about to do and why he is doing it.  In a normal slasher flick this would truly shatter the entire experience making the movie pointless to watch (except for the kills of course).  Ahlbrandt took something extremely old with the religious freak killing sinners and made it in such a way that it seems original and inventive.  Unfortunately, the story could not really save some of the scenes.  A few of the scenes had awkward dialogue that did not really fit in to the flow of the film and contributed to me not paying attention every now and then.  Finally, this film if filled with amazing special effects and bloody kills. For those of you that bitch and complain that movies now-a-days do not have the kills or special effects like movies from the 80s will need to watch this one and shut your damn mouth.  This movie will satisfy the blood lust of the most avid gorehound.  Overall, this movie will slap you with a nice set and then spray you with blood from beginning to end.  Ahlbrandt will definitely be a name to remember when it comes to indie horror and blood splatter. I highly recommend it.